Literary History of Sanskrit Buddhism

Strotras, Dhāraṇīs, Tantras – 135
was also Candragomi whom we mentioned above and to whom a
Tārāsādhanaśataka has been attributed. (Blonay, p. 17 f.)
Dhāraṇīs or Necromantic formulae
A great and essential element of the Mahāyānistic literature is
constituted by Dhāraṇīs or magical formulæ. The necessity for
formulæ for exorcisms, and charms for blessing and witchcraft
which was taken into account in the earliest ages in the Vedic
Mantras, especially those of the Atharvaveda, was too vigorously
working in the Indian popular mind for Buddhism to be altogether
devoid of it. We already know how the Buddhists of Ceylon employ
some of their most charming suttas as Parittas or Pirits. In a similar
fashion the Mahāyānistic Buddhists in India transform to some
extent the sacred texts themselves into necromantic charms. To these
we have to add innumerable invocations to the numerous deities in
the Mahāyāna of a Buddhistic or Hindu origin [113] and – last but
not least – the favourite mysterious words and syllables already
occurring in the sacrificial mysteries of the Yajurveda. An instance
of a Sūtra composed for magical objective is the Meghasūtra. It
commences, as do other Mahāyānasūtras, with the words:
“So have I heard, once upon a time the Master was dwelling in the
palace of the snake princes Nanda and Upananda.”
It proceeds to recount how the serpent deities made worship to the
Buddha and the Bodhisattvas upon which one of the serpentine kings
thus interrogated the Exalted One:
“How, Lord, may all the sorrows of all the snakes be assuaged and
how may the snakes so rejoice and be happy that they may shower